This invention relates to circuits for driving gas discharge lamps, and particularly, though not exclusively, to circuits for driving fluorescent lamps.
In circuits for driving fluorescent lamps, and particularly in circuits for driving "instant-start" fluorescent lamps (which are designed to start, i.e. to strike an arc between end electrodes, immediately a voltage is applied between its electrodes, without requiring pre-heating of lamp filaments as is typical in other kinds of fluorescent lamps), it may be desirable that the circuit should operate safely and efficiently in the event that a lamp does not strike or in the event of a lamp fault.